Confribntions to the Ornithology of India, 8fe. 153 



First, as to the lower parts ; the young-est birds have the 

 chin and the centre of the throaty clii^g"y white^ and a cheek 

 stripe pretty prominent, dividing the former from the ear 

 coverts and cheeks, which are also dingy white, each feather 

 pretty broadly dark shafted. The vent and under tail coverts 

 are dingy fulvous white, only some few of the latter exhibit- 

 ing a dark shaft towards the tips ; the whole of the rest of 

 the lower parts are a pretty dark hair brown, mottled on the 

 breast and the centre of the abdomen with white or fulvous white, 

 the mottling being due to many of the feathers having a more or 

 less broad margin of this color, of which margins there are only 

 traces on the feathers of the sides and flanks. As the bird grows 

 older, the cheek stripes gradually grow less distinct and tend to 

 disappear, as do the streaks on the ear coverts and cheeks ; all 

 markings disappear from the lower tail coverts ; as to the rest of 

 the lower parts, the white margins grow larger, the brown por- 

 tions of the feathers contract, grow paler, and more rufous, till 

 at last in a very old bird the whole chin, throat, cheeks, and 

 breast become pure white, with only a few tiny pale brown spots 

 forming a sort of irregular gorget and a few similarly colored 

 hair lines towards the tips of the ear coverts. A faint trace of 

 the cheek stripe generally remains. On the sides, flanks, and 

 middle of abdomen, a good many moderately sized, somewhat 

 rufous brown, ovate streaks or spots remain. The interior tibial, 

 plumes, the feathers of the vent and lower tail coverts are quite 

 unspotted. 



Now to take the upper parts, which I will divide into head, 

 mantle, wings, and tail. 



In the youngest bird the forehead is a dirty rufous white ; the 

 rest of the head is a moderately dark hair-brown, much the same 

 colour as the general tint of both the upper and lower surface ; 

 some of the feathers darker shafted, and all the posterior ones 

 narrowly margined with rufous or fulvous white. As the bird 

 gets older, the pale margins increase in width, and as a rule soon 

 lose their rufescent tinge. The brown central stripes then de- 

 crease in width until, in the oldest birds, the whole of the head 

 and nape is pure white, with only narrow brown shaft stripes. 



In the young bird the whole of the mantle is a moderately 

 dark brown, about the same color as that of a jowng jtigger ; all 

 the feathers narrowly margined with pale dull rufous, and there 

 are sometimes one or two spots of this colour on the scapulars ; 

 the primaries are dark brown with no markings on the exterior 

 webs, but numerous, very broad, ovate, slightly rufescent trans- 

 verse bars on the inner web, not quite extending to the shaft. 

 Later, the bird bleaches somewhat, the brown grows duller, and 



